February 10, 2025 • 10 mins
This episode emphasizes essential steps for successfully starting a podcast, especially in the MENA region. We explore niche identification, the importance of storytelling, production practices, localization marketing, and monetization strategies.
• Define your niche with a regional angle
• Emphasize storytelling to build audience connections
• Start production without perfection
• Market your podcast tailored to the MENA audience
• Understand monetization and develop your unique selling proposition
Make sure to subscribe, like, and comment. If you have any questions, feel free to DM me!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to the Curation, a show for the
culturally curious.
This is your host, noor Hassan.
Each week, I'll guide youthrough a curated edit of the
finest in art, fashion, design,culture, luxury, wellness, tech
and more.
This is your go-to space fordiscovering trailblazing ideas,
untold stories and meaningfulconversations with innovators
(00:31):
and creators who are shaping ourworld.
There's no gatekeeping here, sosit back, tune in and let's
discover only the best together,together.
Hi guys, I'm Lene A and I get arequest from one of my lovely
(00:52):
followers and I would like toask you if you wanted to start a
podcast today, if you wanted tostart a podcast today in the
MENA region, in Middle East andNorth Africa.
What do you do?
And I was thinking a lot.
I said how do I do this episodewithout being biased, without
(01:14):
not knowing, without telling youthat the topic is really, as a
disclaimer, not easy, but Idecided that I will try to
explain to you as much as I canwhat are the five points that I
feel are essential if you wantto start a podcast today, and we
want to be a successful podcast, something to stand out.
This episode is unedited, it'suncut, and hopefully you'll
(01:39):
benefit from it, hopefullyyou'll learn something and I
don't want to start start apodcast.
I just want to say I wish youthe best of luck.
It's an incredible field, butit is still a new field, so the
topic is still new and we stilldon't know where it could go.
Okay, these are the five pointswhen I start a podcast in 2025.
(02:04):
Number one define your niche.
Okay, these are the five pointswhen I start a podcast in 2025.
Number one define your nichewith a regional angle.
What does that mean?
Right now?
There are a lot of topics.
A lot of people are watchingpodcasts these days and,
honestly, I watch the show and Idon't know what the topic of
the show is.
I mean comedians, for example.
(02:25):
I feel that it's great to befunny, but, for example, do you
talk about something specific?
Do you have a specific topicyou want to explain?
Do you want to stay in aspecific niche?
Because every time you choosesomething fashion, art, style,
(02:46):
whatever حاجة specific كل ماyou'll stand out فلازم تعملوها
بطريقة زكية.
تختاروا topic محدش بيكلم فيهبطريقة محدش بيكلم بيها.
يعني أنا, مثلا, في the curation, أنا غيرت الاسم ليه لأن هو ده
اللي.
ا's what we do.
We curate, we choose the thingsthat are the best thing, from
(03:08):
each topic, from each industry,from each field, and we present
it to you.
Or the best person, for example, does certain things.
In Arabic, the word curate iscalled taqeem that you or you
rate something.
It's similar to rating.
You give something a ratingfrom similar to rating.
(03:29):
You give something a ratingfrom 1 to 10.
So our selection of thecuration is always 10.
Out of 10.
Okay, and that's my nichepersonally.
The second thing, the secondpoint, is that content is king,
but storytelling is queen.
That's the typical idiom wealways hear.
But what does this mean?
It means that the content isreally important, but you I
(03:53):
don't know how to say this God,share your story.
Understand who you are.
Speak your way, for example,bilingual تفهمونا انتو مين
تتكلمو بطريقة بتاعتكو مثلاالبايلنجول الفكرة انتو تكلمو
عربي او انجليزي, or the two.
The idea is that you make somecontent in Arabic and some
(04:14):
content in English.
All of this makes me understandwho I'm listening to.
I mean, who is the person I'mlistening to?
Because, as I always say, thehost is 60%, 70% or more than
the success of a show.
Okay, and this is a veryimportant thing, you need to
show us the personality ofية.
(04:35):
بتاعت الهوست, بتاعتكو انتو, لانانا مش هسمع البودكاست دي عشان
اسمها, مثلا نور talks.
انا هسمعها عشان نور اللي بتتكلم, بس مين نور.
واسألوا نفسكو are you willingto share about yourself?
(04:58):
And this is something I reallystruggled with for a long time
do you want to share more aboutyourself?
Because, by nature, having apodcast means that you will have
to share more about yourself,about who you are.
I'm not saying that you don'thave to be a level of privacy,
no but you will have to give theaudience a little bit more.
That's my second point.
(05:19):
My third point is productionwithout perfection.
Here I will tell you a storyabout how I started podcasting.
I was in 2020, before thecorona.
I was sitting with myself andsuddenly I got the idea.
I thought to myself what isthis?
You need a podcast, noor.
I don't know why, but I feltthat I urgently need to start a
(05:42):
podcast, and that was a verystrange feeling and to this day,
I don't know what inspired meto do this.
Subhanallah.
But I did something I've neverdone before, even though, even
though this is my personality Igot down and I got two mics and
an interface and I grabbed themic and I started recording and
(06:03):
I taught myself how to audioedit and I taught myself how to
share the podcast online and howto do everything, and I built a
platform for myself, honestly,in one night, and this is what I
want to tell you the firstpodcast, the sound, of course,
wasn't right, the editing wasn'tright.
There were a lot of friends,they took the risk and, honestly
, they're amazing and theyagreed to be some of my first
(06:26):
guests, but I started withoutperfection.
I started before the productwas finished and this is
something Really, really, really.
These days, we feel on socialmedia that it's impossible.
We have to start witheverything perfect.
All the production, styling,hair, makeup All of this will
(06:47):
delay you.
It will delay you to no endUntil you finally start.
So, of course, now I have myown production team.
I don't need to do everything,but I'm going to start.
In the beginning, it was me, twomics and my laptop, and that
was it.
So the third point isproduction without perfection.
(07:09):
Start with what you have.
Start with what you have rightnow, okay.
The fourth point is marketingfor the MENA region and standing
out.
I mean, look, I'll explainsomething to you right now, and
this is something I wish I couldunderstand better than this.
You have to market your podcastto the audience around you.
At the end of the day,algorithms are based on the
(07:32):
location where you are sitting,where you are based.
I am based in Cairo, betweenCairo and Dubai, so this is my
audience core.
Although I have a lot oflisteners, many people hear from
America, uk, europe and on thecontrary.
Actually, because I talk oninternational topics, I have an
English accent, so basically,people understand the podcast,
(07:56):
they can tune in, but at the endof the day, my audience is
regional and I was very confusedabout this topic and in the end
the day, the audience isregional and I kept fighting
this topic a lot and in the endI told myself okay, noor, talk
to them about the topics theywant to hear about.
No matter how old I was and Ifelt westernized.
You need to give yourself areality check and know where you
(08:20):
are and who is the audience andwhat they want to hear.
The last point is monetization.
Everyone asks me do you makemoney off the podcast, etc.
Etc.
And I will tell you honestlyyes, I do, but it took years for
that to happen and it is not mymain objective.
But at the end of the day.
This is what will happen.
(08:41):
Only if you build a brand thathas strategy, that a brand that
has a strategy, that hasdifferentiation, that has you're
not afraid that if I don't haveenough followers or there are a
million podcasts, then I'm done.
I'm done with the Moga orwhatever.
You have a first moveradvantage.
If you started years ago andthat doesn't go away, I'm alone.
(09:03):
I do not care about competition.
I don't look left or right عنديadvisor, زي بتاع الكامل ده ولا
الحصان and I don't care.
I know the quality اللي أنابقدمها, بالprices that I ask for
, بالaudience caliber that youwill not get anywhere else.
وده اللي أنا بخش.
That's my USP.
But what do you have?
(09:24):
You have to think, becausetoday the currency is not the
followers.
The currency is who follows you, who are your followers.
You can have 10,000 followersfrom the strongest people in the
region and you can have 1million followers, a luxury
(09:45):
brand, if دل your goal.
مش عايزين يوصلوا لهم.
مش التارجت بتاعهم أصلا أنا.
I'm a niche show and I want tostay that way.
مش عايزة معص.
مش عايزة تعامل بالمعص.
مش عايزة أمثل إن أنا معص.
فهي دي الفكرة.
وكل ما تزيرو ان تعرفوا ايهالUSP, الunique selling
(10:06):
proposition.
بتاكو كل ما فعلا your show willstand out.
فthese are the points, and mybiggest advice is if you want to
start, do it as fast as you can, because the minute you start
you hit the ground running andyou just have to keep going, لأن
(10:27):
في حاجة اسمها accountabilityفبست of luck.
لو عندكوا أي أسئلة على كلمت عليدلوقتي, please ابعطولي and, as
always, make sure to subscribelike comment.
Dm me أي أسئلة عندكوا and makesure to listen to next week's
episode of the Curation.
(10:47):
Thank you, guys.
Talk to you soon.
Welcome to the Curation, a show for the
culturally curious.
This is your host, noor Hassan.
Each week, I'll guide youthrough a curated edit of the
finest in art, fashion, design,culture, luxury, wellness, tech
and more.
This is your go-to space fordiscovering trailblazing ideas,
untold stories and meaningfulconversations with innovators
(00:31):
and creators who are shaping ourworld.
There's no gatekeeping here, sosit back, tune in and let's
discover only the best together,together.
Hi guys, I'm Lene A and I get arequest from one of my lovely
(00:52):
followers and I would like toask you if you wanted to start a
podcast today, if you wanted tostart a podcast today in the
MENA region, in Middle East andNorth Africa.
What do you do?
And I was thinking a lot.
I said how do I do this episodewithout being biased, without
(01:14):
not knowing, without telling youthat the topic is really, as a
disclaimer, not easy, but Idecided that I will try to
explain to you as much as I canwhat are the five points that I
feel are essential if you wantto start a podcast today, and we
want to be a successful podcast, something to stand out.
This episode is unedited, it'suncut, and hopefully you'll
(01:39):
benefit from it, hopefullyyou'll learn something and I
don't want to start start apodcast.
I just want to say I wish youthe best of luck.
It's an incredible field, butit is still a new field, so the
topic is still new and we stilldon't know where it could go.
Okay, these are the five pointswhen I start a podcast in 2025.
(02:04):
Number one define your niche.
Okay, these are the five pointswhen I start a podcast in 2025.
Number one define your nichewith a regional angle.
What does that mean?
Right now?
There are a lot of topics.
A lot of people are watchingpodcasts these days and,
honestly, I watch the show and Idon't know what the topic of
the show is.
I mean comedians, for example.
(02:25):
I feel that it's great to befunny, but, for example, do you
talk about something specific?
Do you have a specific topicyou want to explain?
Do you want to stay in aspecific niche?
Because every time you choosesomething fashion, art, style,
(02:46):
whatever حاجة specific كل ماyou'll stand out فلازم تعملوها
بطريقة زكية.
تختاروا topic محدش بيكلم فيهبطريقة محدش بيكلم بيها.
يعني أنا, مثلا, في the curation, أنا غيرت الاسم ليه لأن هو ده
اللي.
ا's what we do.
We curate, we choose the thingsthat are the best thing, from
(03:08):
each topic, from each industry,from each field, and we present
it to you.
Or the best person, for example, does certain things.
In Arabic, the word curate iscalled taqeem that you or you
rate something.
It's similar to rating.
You give something a ratingfrom similar to rating.
(03:29):
You give something a ratingfrom 1 to 10.
So our selection of thecuration is always 10.
Out of 10.
Okay, and that's my nichepersonally.
The second thing, the secondpoint, is that content is king,
but storytelling is queen.
That's the typical idiom wealways hear.
But what does this mean?
It means that the content isreally important, but you I
(03:53):
don't know how to say this God,share your story.
Understand who you are.
Speak your way, for example,bilingual تفهمونا انتو مين
تتكلمو بطريقة بتاعتكو مثلاالبايلنجول الفكرة انتو تكلمو
عربي او انجليزي, or the two.
The idea is that you make somecontent in Arabic and some
(04:14):
content in English.
All of this makes me understandwho I'm listening to.
I mean, who is the person I'mlistening to?
Because, as I always say, thehost is 60%, 70% or more than
the success of a show.
Okay, and this is a veryimportant thing, you need to
show us the personality ofية.
(04:35):
بتاعت الهوست, بتاعتكو انتو, لانانا مش هسمع البودكاست دي عشان
اسمها, مثلا نور talks.
انا هسمعها عشان نور اللي بتتكلم, بس مين نور.
واسألوا نفسكو are you willingto share about yourself?
(04:58):
And this is something I reallystruggled with for a long time
do you want to share more aboutyourself?
Because, by nature, having apodcast means that you will have
to share more about yourself,about who you are.
I'm not saying that you don'thave to be a level of privacy,
no but you will have to give theaudience a little bit more.
That's my second point.
(05:19):
My third point is productionwithout perfection.
Here I will tell you a storyabout how I started podcasting.
I was in 2020, before thecorona.
I was sitting with myself andsuddenly I got the idea.
I thought to myself what isthis?
You need a podcast, noor.
I don't know why, but I feltthat I urgently need to start a
(05:42):
podcast, and that was a verystrange feeling and to this day,
I don't know what inspired meto do this.
Subhanallah.
But I did something I've neverdone before, even though, even
though this is my personality Igot down and I got two mics and
an interface and I grabbed themic and I started recording and
(06:03):
I taught myself how to audioedit and I taught myself how to
share the podcast online and howto do everything, and I built a
platform for myself, honestly,in one night, and this is what I
want to tell you the firstpodcast, the sound, of course,
wasn't right, the editing wasn'tright.
There were a lot of friends,they took the risk and, honestly
, they're amazing and theyagreed to be some of my first
(06:26):
guests, but I started withoutperfection.
I started before the productwas finished and this is
something Really, really, really.
These days, we feel on socialmedia that it's impossible.
We have to start witheverything perfect.
All the production, styling,hair, makeup All of this will
(06:47):
delay you.
It will delay you to no endUntil you finally start.
So, of course, now I have myown production team.
I don't need to do everything,but I'm going to start.
In the beginning, it was me, twomics and my laptop, and that
was it.
So the third point isproduction without perfection.
(07:09):
Start with what you have.
Start with what you have rightnow, okay.
The fourth point is marketingfor the MENA region and standing
out.
I mean, look, I'll explainsomething to you right now, and
this is something I wish I couldunderstand better than this.
You have to market your podcastto the audience around you.
At the end of the day,algorithms are based on the
(07:32):
location where you are sitting,where you are based.
I am based in Cairo, betweenCairo and Dubai, so this is my
audience core.
Although I have a lot oflisteners, many people hear from
America, uk, europe and on thecontrary.
Actually, because I talk oninternational topics, I have an
English accent, so basically,people understand the podcast,
(07:56):
they can tune in, but at the endof the day, my audience is
regional and I was very confusedabout this topic and in the end
the day, the audience isregional and I kept fighting
this topic a lot and in the endI told myself okay, noor, talk
to them about the topics theywant to hear about.
No matter how old I was and Ifelt westernized.
You need to give yourself areality check and know where you
(08:20):
are and who is the audience andwhat they want to hear.
The last point is monetization.
Everyone asks me do you makemoney off the podcast, etc.
Etc.
And I will tell you honestlyyes, I do, but it took years for
that to happen and it is not mymain objective.
But at the end of the day.
This is what will happen.
(08:41):
Only if you build a brand thathas strategy, that a brand that
has a strategy, that hasdifferentiation, that has you're
not afraid that if I don't haveenough followers or there are a
million podcasts, then I'm done.
I'm done with the Moga orwhatever.
You have a first moveradvantage.
If you started years ago andthat doesn't go away, I'm alone.
(09:03):
I do not care about competition.
I don't look left or right عنديadvisor, زي بتاع الكامل ده ولا
الحصان and I don't care.
I know the quality اللي أنابقدمها, بالprices that I ask for
, بالaudience caliber that youwill not get anywhere else.
وده اللي أنا بخش.
That's my USP.
But what do you have?
(09:24):
You have to think, becausetoday the currency is not the
followers.
The currency is who follows you, who are your followers.
You can have 10,000 followersfrom the strongest people in the
region and you can have 1million followers, a luxury
(09:45):
brand, if دل your goal.
مش عايزين يوصلوا لهم.
مش التارجت بتاعهم أصلا أنا.
I'm a niche show and I want tostay that way.
مش عايزة معص.
مش عايزة تعامل بالمعص.
مش عايزة أمثل إن أنا معص.
فهي دي الفكرة.
وكل ما تزيرو ان تعرفوا ايهالUSP, الunique selling
(10:06):
proposition.
بتاكو كل ما فعلا your show willstand out.
فthese are the points, and mybiggest advice is if you want to
start, do it as fast as you can, because the minute you start
you hit the ground running andyou just have to keep going, لأن
(10:27):
في حاجة اسمها accountabilityفبست of luck.
لو عندكوا أي أسئلة على كلمت عليدلوقتي, please ابعطولي and, as
always, make sure to subscribelike comment.
Dm me أي أسئلة عندكوا and makesure to listen to next week's
episode of the Curation.
(10:47):
Thank you, guys.
Talk to you soon.
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